Sherdog Prospect Watch: Joseph Benavidez

Finding Faber

With the uptick in mixed martial arts talent of late, the process
of fighters passing on knowledge, nurturing talent and shaping the
next generation has become one of the game’s overlooked phenomena.
Unlike boxing -- where the knowledge base is largely propagated
through trainers of a different generation and active fighters
rarely involve themselves in training others, much less meddle on
other levels -- today’s MMA athletes often emerge as a result of
hands-on shaping from active fighters.

That knowledge base and constant refinement may not directly mimic
Moore’s law -- that correctly predicated computing speed would, in
the future, double every 18 months -- but today’s fighters are a
better crop with each passing month. Many of them are at nascent
phases of careers that could only belong to today’s gladiators. And
with the first generation of MMA legends pretty much in the rear
view mirror and active fighters mentoring more than ever,
tomorrow’s stars are often the product of the people with whom they
surround themselves.

Team Alpha Male, Urijah
Faber’s Sacramento, Calif.-based outfit, is best known, for
now, as the former World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight
champion’s crew. But here, as almost everywhere else in the fight
game, there’s a lot more to the eye if one knows where to look.

Much like when Team Punishment seemingly existed of Tito Ortiz and
a bunch of tough-looking dudes wearing branded sweatshirts, the
Team Alpha Male could be one of those next big teams. With Faber
leading the charge, the team, comprised of 16 guys -- roster in
slight flux, of course -- train together, with many living in a
Sacramento cluster of five homes owned by Faber and other team
members.

There’s Joseph
Benavidez, set to battle Jeff Curran on
the April 5 WEC card in Chicago that features bantamweight king
Miguel
Torres defending against Takeya
Mizugaki. If Benavidez wins, he may be next in line for a shot
at the belt. There’s 2-0 lightweight Chad Mendes,
who was a top NCAA wrestler; he gives Faber head-banging battles in
the gym. And a host of others in the mix provide elements of the
larger equation.

The first potential breakout product has been Benavidez.

After dominating his Nov. 10 WEC debut with a decision win over
Danny
Martinez, Benavidez, now 9-0, emerged as a new face in the
135-pound division. Utilizing agility, unorthodox striking and a
spry ground game, Benavidez’s debut was the kind of big-stage
opener manager’s dream of but rarely get. He executed with
precision, while performing a few-eye popping moves on the feet and
the mat.

“That’s first time I haven’t finished my opponent, but it only
makes me hungrier,” Benavidez said.

He met Faber in January 2007. Finding him, however, proved tougher
than any of his fights thus far.

“I was fighting in some really small shows; they’re not even on my
record on Sherdog, but I got paid for them. Fighting in a few of
those, just training and doing my thing, I’d get my training at a
boxing gym and jiu-jitsu gym and keep wrestling. And I was spending
a lot of time doing MMA, but I had a regular job,” said Benavidez,
who was working as a screen printer. “I knew it was possible to
make a living. That was what I wanted to do, and then I ended up
actually coming out to California to visit a friend, and as I was
out here. I’d never been to California, but I knew it was the spot
to make connections. I had a little bit of relocating on my mind,
but I didn’t quite know I wanted to make it a career. So I just
came out here with an open mind to meet people. [Faber’s gym]
Ultimate Fitness was just opening. I was on a search to find him. I
was calling martial arts gyms if they did MMA, [to see] if they
knew Urijah. I would ask people on the streets if they knew where
he was.”

Photo by Sherdog.com

Urijah Faber has been
instrumental in
Benavidez's growth in MMA.

Finding Urijah

That gym opening came at the same time Faber had begun a four-fight
tear in the WEC, stopping four opponents as the sport exploded on
television and everywhere else. At the time, Benavidez could not
find The Man, so he put word out the best way he knew how.

“I ended up finding a regular MMA gym and just went in there and
ended up kicking these guys’ butts, including the instructor’s,” he
said. “They were like, ‘You need to see Faber.’ They told me about
his gym. It wasn’t in the phone book. That was on a Saturday night,
and I had to fly out on Monday morning, so I had no chance of
meeting him. I had finally found him, and it was at the end of my
vacation. I went to airport and my friends dropped me off; [I] was
ready to go back to New Mexico and my regular life. My flight got
canceled.”

Fate had intervened.

“It was right when I first opened the gym, and he kind of stumbled
in,” Faber said of their first in-person meeting. “You get it all
the time -- guys who say they want to fight. He’d gone down to a
gym in Roseville and basically beat the crap out of everyone. They
said you need to find Urijah. His flight got cancelled, and he
said, ‘I’m thinking of coming down.’ He kept text messaging me. I’d
rolled with him and realized he was really legit. I said, ‘If you
come down, I’ll give you job at the front desk.’”

Benavidez met the team and was hooked. He went back to New Mexico
for two months, jammed everything into his car and took the dive,
heading to California.

“We got along right away,” Benavidez said. “He’s just a really
personable guy. Then he’s like, ‘Yeah man, that’d be really cool.’
The way Faber is, someone comes in, if they’re nice or jerks, he’ll
just straight grapple with him and test them. And I’ll do it, too.
I’ll be working the front desk or mopping the floor. When I got to
grapple with him, it was a pretty good battle. Right away, I loved
his style.”